Gothic World

• Gothic fashion is a clothing style worn by members of the Goth subculture; a dark, sometimes morbid, eroticized fashion and style of dress. Typical Gothic fashion includes black dyed hair and black clothes. Both male and female goths wear dark eyeliner and dark fingernails. Styles are often borrowed from the Elizabethans and Victorians. BDSM imagery and paraphernalia are also common. Some haute couture designers, particularly Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, have been associated with the goth aesthetic.

• Cintra Wilson declares that "The origins of contemporary goth style are found in the Victorian cult of mourning." Valerie Steele is an expert in the history of the style.

  Many goths are drawn to the fashion due to a sense of alienation, which may explain the style's fascination with morbidity or vampire style. Wearing black eyeshadow and shroud-like clothing that refers to the dead may express grief, despair, or mourning. Some goth experience fashion as a transformation from alienation through self-expression and a sense of belonging to a community that shares the same sense of alienation.Alternately, the fashion may reflect an attraction to the darker side of sexuality.

  Goth fashion can be recognized by its stark black clothing (or hair or makeup),often contrasted with boldly colored clothing, hair and makeup in shades of deep reds, purples, blues or emerald green. Fabrics and styles that evoke romantic eras as well as morbidity, and usually combine style elements that flow and drape, or restrict and emphasize a body part (i.e. corsetry or tight sleeves or trousers). Goth fashion further emphasizes the personal power of an individual, as the juxtapositions of elements of rugged accessories (metal and leather), to that of the vulnerable and sensual restriction of body parts (i.e. lace, silks, and high heels for either gender).

  Goth fashion is sometimes confused with heavy metal fashion, and uninformed outsiders often mistake heavy metal fans or musicians for goth,particularly those who wear black trenchcoats or "corpse paint" (associated with black metal).

TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA